One year after its launch, Chinese insurer Ping An’s comprehensive ‘Doctor’ app raised $500m in a series A funding round. The app allows its users to access real-time consultations and health management services –becoming the most popular platform in a saturated digital market. We look at Ping An’s strategy to bridge the payer-provider gap.
Archives
KPMG report: Global trends in aged care
In its Global trends in aged care report, KPMG identifies five key themes that are likely to shape the elderly care market - based on interviews with experts in 20 countries.
June 2, 2016
CapMan sells Esperi Care stake
Finnish firm CapMan Buyout is selling its 76% stake in Finnish care provider Esperi Care to UK-based asset manager ICG. Expects more cooperation with municipalities and more acquisitions –says CEO Marja Aarnio-Isohanni.
June 1, 2016
Akademikliniken to consolidate plastic surgery sector in the Nordics
Danish buyout firm Polaris has acquired a majority stake in plastic surgery and aesthetic treatment provider Akademikliniken. Under previous owner private equity house Valedo, Akademikliniken had tripled its hospital and clinic network in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. It now aims to further consolidate in the Nordics – according to CEO Magnus Jansson.
May 31, 2016
Norlandia moves into new markets
Elderly care and child care player Norlandia is looking to expand to new markets, including north Germany and the UK, in an aggressive roll-out strategy. It says it is also considering launching elderly care platforms in Finland and the Netherlands – where it currently only operates pre-schools. We speak to CEO Hilde-Britt Mellbye.
May 24, 2016
Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes and ex-health minister to launch healthcare fund
Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes is eyeing majority stakes in three specialised hospitals for a total value of US$56m to US$68m in order to launch a healthcare fund.
May 23, 2016
The side effects of China’s ban on drug mark-ups
Amidst concerns that doctors often over-prescribe, the Chinese government decided last year to stop hospitals working as distribution channels for pharmaceuticals by banning drug mark-ups. But Manaen Ma, a self-employed consultant on China’s healthcare industry, says that a ban cannot substitute better funding for indebted hospitals - and that the practice is still going on.
May 23, 2016
French hospital operator Avenir Santé for sale
French private equity firm Montefiore is exiting its six-year investment with regional hospital operator Avenir Santé and wants to sell its 72% stake in the group. Expect the buyer to be announced in the next two months.
May 19, 2016
Optegra looks at expansion opportunities in the UK and Europe
Six months after opening a new hospital on Harley street, UK-based ophthalmology chain Optegra is considering new expansions across several UK sites. Roberto Cirillo, CEO of Optegra, says the group is keen to see more NHS contracts. Optegra is also actively looking at opportunities in Europe.
May 19, 2016
Luz Saude to implement value-based healthcare
Luz Saude, Portugal's largest private healthcare network, is attempting to implement value-based healthcare through the creation of “specialised multidisciplinary centres”, which focus on conditions such as headaches and diabetes, rather than specialties. From 10 today, the group aims to create 45 of these centres by the end of 2018. Doctors are systematically reporting, measuring and benchmarking quality outcomes - and measuring costs. In a presentation at Healthcare Business International 2016, Isabel Vaz, CEO of Luz Saude, said it was "only a question of time" before private insurers introduced pay for performance.
May 18, 2016
Fosun Property eyes elderly care JVs
As Western companies are starting to doubt the promises of China's elderly care market, we hear Fosun Property, the real estate division of conglomerate Fosun, is looking to invest into European nursing homes.
May 6, 2016
Asia “healthcare bubble” set to burst?
The Asia Pacific region is home to four of the ten largest acute care operators in the world, trading at an average EV/EBITDA multiple of 22x. APAC now has 58 listed healthcare services groups for an aggregate market cap of $158bn. But has it passed its peak? At the Healthcare Business International conference in London, private equity firms spoke of 2016 as a ‘crash year’, marked by political uncertainty and financial instability.
